Mystery Writers of America University (MWA-U) is a full-day, low-cost writing seminar designed to teach participants the essential skills needed to write a novel, from the idea stage to the final editing. The focus is on the craft of writing, and the college-level courses are taught by published writers and experienced teachers.

Register NOW for MWA University – Chicago

MWA University in Chicago will take place in downtown Chicago.

Date: Saturday, September 13, 2014

What: An entire day of top-notch classes. Novice or pro, you will benefit from hearing the experts discuss their strategies for all facets of writing and publishing.

MWA Midwest will be hosting the MWA tent at Printers Row again this year. Come check out the in-tent activities, author interviews and signings, and contests at the corner of Dearborn and Harrison near the Blake Hotel. Check out these MWA Midwest-led events, too:

Don’t forget the MWA Midwest group is now running our Hugh Holton Mentor Program. Turn in 50 pages of an unpublished mystery manuscript and a fee ($50 for nonmembers, $25 for members) and get a critique from a published author!

Added incentive: The top manuscript from member entries wins $500, and the top entry from nonmembers wins a membership to MWA! Email mwamidwest (at) gmail (dot) com for more information.

Our March 16 meeting at Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore (1 p.m., 7419 Madison St, Forest Park, IL) will feature Julius Kole, a Buffalo Grove attorney who spent two years as a Cook County Public Defender. Kole is a graduate of the University of Illinois and the John Marshall Law School. During his tenure as a Cook County Public Defender for the Juvenile Court, Kole represented young offenders and parents charged with abuse and neglect. He also has experience defending adult misdemeanors and adult felonies and DUIs. Kole now owns his own practice.

Come with questions about about domestic abuse in the courts, and juvenile court.

Looking for a little magic for your next mystery? Psychic Karen Jacobson will share stories from her work and tips on how to incorporate mystics, tarot readers, or psychics into your stories at this Sunday’s MWA Midwest chapter meeting. We meet at NOON at Love Is Murder (The Hotel Intercontinental, Rosemont, 5300 River Road).

Rev. Karen L. Jacobson has been a Pathways Minister since 1995. She has a BA in Psychology and an Associates of Applied Business Principals.

You don’t need to be registered for the conference to attend the meeting. We have a premonition we’ll see you there.

At the mystery and romance writers conference Love Is Murder, February 7-9, Mystery Writers of America-Midwest Chapter offers The Writer’s Track, a nuts and bolts approach to the most important and perplexing questions of a writer’s career. From writing great dialogue and character, to the realities of the best seller list, and all the myths and mistakes writers make, MWA Midwest will give you the scoop from people who’ve been on the scene.

Writer’s Track is Friday, February 7, from Noon-4pm

Noon-1pm:

From Conferee to Author: What I’ve Learned in 27 Years, with Matthew Clemens

All the things you wish someone talked about at conferences, but seldom do…from starting out to what happens if you sell your novel. This is the talk to learn the insider tips, the mistakes, and the realities of starting life as a writer, given by a long-successful practitioner of the craft.

Matthew Clemens is a long-time co-conspirator with Max Allan Collins. The pair has collaborated on more than twenty novels, several comic books, four graphic novels, a computer game, and a dozen mystery jigsaw puzzles. Their latest thriller Supreme Justice, will be out in 2014.

1pm-2pm:

Creating Memorable Characters, with Luisa Buehler

Every author wants well-drawn characters and every reader wants memorable characters. This workshop will discuss the melding of the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of character development.

Luisa Buehler writes the Grace Marsden Mystery Series. Reviewers call her style “a cold case sizzle.” The stories follow the cold trail of bygone crimes, blending traditional whodunit with hints of romance and the supernatural. The series won The Readers Choice Award for best traditional amateur sleuth. The seventh in the series, The Reenactor: A Staged Death, debuted at Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Literary Festival. Luisa lives in Lisle, IL with husband Gerry, son Christopher, and the family cat Martin Marmalade.

2pm-3pm:

An Actor’s View on Dialogue, with Diane Piron-Gelman

“Speak the Speech, I Pray You” A wordsmith’s skills are often the same, whether the words are written or spoken. Author, actor, and audiobook narrator Diane Piron-Gelman brings an actor’s perspective to the part of storytelling that’s most like the stage: the fine art of dialogue.

Diane Piron-Gelman, writing as D.M. Pirrone, is the author of No Less In Blood (Five Star/Cengage, 2011) and A Judgment in Ashes (forthcoming in 2014 from Allium Press of Chicago). In addition to her work as an author, editor (Word Nerd, Inc.) and audiobook narrator, Diane has been active in Chicago’s theatre scene since 1985, and often draws on her acting experience when writing. She is a long-time member of MWA Midwest and Sisters in Crime, and currently serves as chapter president of Sisters in Crime Chicagoland.

3pm-4pm:

Stages of a Writer’s Career with Julie Hyzy, Clare O’Donohue, and Lori Rader-Day

On the cusp of publishing a first novel… in the mid-list doldrums… sitting pretty on the bestseller’s list. These are three crucial stages in a writer’s life, where making the right choices can lead to a more satisfying and successful, career. And making the wrong ones can send a writer off track. Three writers—each representing one of these stages—will have a round-table discussion on the best and worst, the “wow” and the “what now?” of the writing life.

A relentless snoop and mystery seeker since childhood, Julie Hyzy gets to play detective by writing amateur sleuth adventures. She’s thrilled to have won the Anthony, Barry, Lovey, and Derringer Awards, and still can’t believe that she has “New York Times Bestselling Author” across the front of her books. Julie writes the White House Chef Mysteries and the Manor House Mysteries for Penguin/Berkley Prime Crime, the most recent of which, Home of the Braised, came out January 7.

Clare O’Donohue is the author of seven novels in two mystery series, The Someday Quilts Mysteries and The Kate Conway Mysteries. She is also a TV producer of documentary and true crime, and has lived and worked in New York, London, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. She is the current president of the Midwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, and when she’s not in a hotel, airport, or shooting location, she lives near Chicago.

Lori Rader-Day is the author of the mystery The Black Hour (Seventh Street Books, 2014). Born and raised in central Indiana, she now lives in Chicago with her husband and dog. Her fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Time Out Chicago, and others. She is the current vice president of the Midwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, and is the editor of the group’s newsletter.

Adam Selzer is the author of the new GHOSTS OF CHICAGO book from Llewellyn worldwide. It’s his attempt to figure out what we really know and how we know it regarding various Chicago ghost stories—he solved a mystery or two along the way. He’s also the author of several young adult and middle grade novels, including I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT (his attempt to make fun of Twilight for 200 pages) and I PUT A SPELL ON YOU, a spelling bee mystery. He runs ghost tours at night.